TV-radio notebook: Chad is 'vacationing' behind WSOP scene

TV-RADIO NOTEBOOK

Published 5:30 am, Friday, August 11, 2006

LAS VEGAS - In case you have this vision of Norman Chad spending his days on the beach after announcing Tuesday in his weekly syndicated column that he was taking a vacation, think again.

Chad spent Thursday in a curtained area behind the final table at the World Series of Poker's Main Event, listening to the chatter around the table as nine players shoved around $90 million in chips in search of a first prize totaling $12 million.

When that's done, Chad's work really begins. He'll spend the better part of the next two months in New York, voicing over commentary with broadcast partner Lon McEachern for 24 episodes of ESPN's taped coverage of the monthlong World Series.

Chad's job, really, is something of a throwback. Rather than calling the event live, he and McEachern add their comments after the show has already been assembled by producer Jamey Howowitz and his crew of a dozen cameramen and about 30 other technicians on site, plus editors and post-production types in New York.

"It's the oddest thing," Chad said. "When I first came here (to the World Series) in 2003, I walked onto the floor and asked the producer where our broadcast was positioned. He looked at me like, 'You're not as stupid as you look, are you? We don't do anything from here. It's all afterward.'

"They finish it up, and we sit in front of a monitor and call it. Pretty odd."

Odd or not, Chad just loves his job.

"The first time I walked into Binion's (site of the 2003 event), I called a couple of friends the next day and said, 'Where has this event been my whole life?' " he said. "You can't believe the feeling.

"I do believe in the event. I wrote that you can take the Super Bowl, the World Series of baseball, all those things, and I'll take the World Series of Poker. It's so unique."

So long, ABC Sports

As something of an old fogey, I can't help but be disappointed with the announcement Thursday that all sports programming on ABC will be known as ESPN on ABC. When you're watching an event on ABC, you'll see ESPN graphics and mike flags. The only vestige of ABC will be the watermark in the lower right corner.

"We are respectful of the ABC Sports legacy and what has been built at ABC over the last 40 years or so," Bodenheimer said. "At ESPN, we are committed to maintaining innovation and continuing to be infused with the legacy of ABC Sports."

Bodenheimer, apparently influenced by marketing surveys, seems to think sports fans are so mesmerized by the letters ESPN that it will benefit the network and its partners for ABC Sports to disappear from the face of the earth. I guess we'll see. It will take some getting used to, though.

In Focus, another of FSN's new feature shows hosted by Dick Enberg, looks at the Cowboys-Steelers rivalry at 2 p.m. today and the Texas-Oklahoma rivalry at 5 p.m. next Thursday and Friday. ... CBS Sports has extended its Sun Bowl contract through 2009. ...

Phil Mickelson: The People's Champion, from PGA Tour Productions, airs at 12:30 p.m. Saturday on CBS stations. ... ESPN's Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony broadcast matched Nielsen ratings for the previous two years and drew a record average audience of 1.216 million households. ...

Since we're talking poker this week, ESPN's Sunday SportsCenter goes us landlubbers one better with a story on a game played July 26 in which players had to parachute from an airplane as they were eliminated. ...

FSN and ESPN Classic are hopping on the Evander Holyfield comeback trail. Classic unveils a true rarity these days — a new episode of SportsCentury — at 8 p.m. Monday, followed by a Who's Number One episode on best boxers. Holyfield, we're told, comes in at No. 18. Classic also has the 1991 fight between Holyfield and George Foreman at 7 p.m.